Arizona Estate Planning Laws

A basic estate plan is going to include a last will and testament, financial power of attorney, medical power of attorney with mental health powers and living will, and a personal property list if the individual chooses to create one. These are documents that every estate plan will have. From there, people have choices. For example, if you have minor children and want money paid to them over time, many couples will elect to create a revocable living trust. A trust will allow for the passing of someone’s estate without going through probate, keeping your financial information private, and allowing for money and assets to be given out over time, rather than one lump some, which is what happens in a probate situation. There are additional estate-planning documents that can be drafted if you want to avoid probate and you do not have a trust. For example, a beneficiary deed will allow you to select who will receive your house and other real estate immediately upon your death without ever having to go through the probate process. And, the Motor Vehicle Department now allows us to prepare a beneficiary designation, so that you can select who will receive your vehicle upon your death. There are many tools that an estate planner can provide to help you with setting things up to care for you and your loved ones. If you would like to create, revise, or update your estate plan, please call Owens & Perkins at (480) 994-8824.

If you would like to review estate planning documents with an attorney, visit this profile and submit a contact form.

By: Attorney Michelle Perkins

A living will is a declaration that you do not want to be kept alive if you are in a persistent vegetative state, an irreversible coma, or have an incurable illness or progressive disease and you will die naturally unless heroic or artificial measures, such as a feeding tube, or a breathing apparatus are used. A living will can declare that if you are in a persistent vegetative state, irreversible coma, or dying from an incurable disease or illness, you want as much pain medication as you need to be kept comfortable, even if hastens the moment of your death, or exceeds routine guidelines. A living will is different than a health care power of attorney, which gives authority to your agent to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to make them yourself. Today, most clients also want a mental health care power of attorney, which declares that if you are unable to give informed consent to your placement in a facility or other recommended treatment, your agent has the authority to agree to the placement or treatment without first obtaining a court order. I’m Mark Bregman. Contact me at (480) 945-9131 to find out how I can use my knowledge and experience to help you and your family from suffering during an end of life experience.

By: Attorney Mark Bregman

Probate is the legal process that confirms who is entitled to your property when you die and provides someone with the authority to transfer real estate, bank accounts, investments, and any other property you own that requires proof of ownership before it can be transferred. You can avoid probate if all of your important assets pass by operation of law. Property can pass by operation of law in one of the following six ways: beneficiary designations for retirement accounts, life insurance, and annuities, two, joint bank accounts, three, rights of survivorship and real property, four, other contractual rights, five, POD or TOD designations on bank or investment accounts, and six, beneficiary deeds for real property. You can also avoid probate, but not administration of your assets if you have a living trust. Whether avoiding probate or administration is a good idea depends on your particular circumstances. I’m Mark Bregman. Contact me at (480) 945-9131 to find out how I can use my knowledge and experience to help you choose the best estate plan.

By: Attorney Mark Bregman

Typical estate planning documents include a living trust, a pour-over will, a living will, and powers of attorney for financial, health care, and mental health care decision-making. Tax planning, if needed, may include irrevocable trusts and asset protection may include LLCs, trusts, and careful planning. I’m Mark Bregman. Contact me at (480) 945-9131 to find out more about creating your own effective and affordable estate plan.

By: Attorney Mark Bregman

In the event that a person does not create an estate plan and nominate someone to take over his or her finances, and that person later becomes unable to manage their financial affairs, the state of Arizona has setup what is called a conservatorship. A conservatorship is a legal court proceeding for the person that is going to take over your finances must file a petition with the court to apply and qualify to become your conservator. If the court approves the person to become your conservator, the court will then issue an order granting that person the legal authority to transact business on your behalf, including your financial accounts, real estate, and motor vehicles. When someone is appointed by the court as a conservator, he or she must account to the court for the money that is spent on your behalf each year. What that means is, the conservator has to prepare and file an annual accounting and submit it to the court. It is then reviewed by the court accountant and either approved, or the court accountant can ask for further clarification. And, with each annual accounting, there is a filing fee that must be paid to the court to have the court accountant review the accounting. There is a very easy way to avoid all of this. All you have to do is contact Owens & Perkins to create an estate plan before you actually need it. Included in every estate plan is a financial power of attorney, where you get to select the individual or trust company that will manage your money if you become unable. If you would like to schedule a consultation to discuss either filing for a conservatorship, or to create your own estate plan, please call us at Owens & Perkins at (480) 994-8824.

If you are seeking a Conservatorship in Arizona, please visit this profile and submit a contact form.

By: Attorney Michelle Perkins

In the event a person does not create an estate plan and nominates someone to make decisions regarding their housing, living situation, and health care, the state of Arizona has setup what is called a guardianship. A guardianship is a legal court proceeding where the person that is going to take over has to go down and file a petition with the court to obtain the legal authority to make these types of decisions for you. If the court approves the person that is applying to become your guardian, the court will issue an order granting them that authority. Many times, particularly if you have more than one child, a guardianship proceeding can become a contested matter because your children may each have their own idea of what is best for you in your later years. Unfortunately, these types of contested proceedings can cause family fights that ruin relationships and cause damage that never gets repaired. But, there is an easy way to avoid putting your family through all of this. If you have created your own estate plan, in that plan there will be a health care power of attorney that allows you to nominate who you want to make these decisions for you in the event that there is ever a time when you are unable. At Owens & Perkins, we strive to keep families together. Let us help you by preparing your estate plan so that you get to make your own decisions and have those decisions carried out. Id you would like to schedule a consultation to create, revise, or update an estate plan, or discuss the possible filing of a guardianship, please contact us at Owens & Perkins at (480) 994-8824.

If you are seeking a Guardianship in Arizona, please view this profile and submit a contact form.

By: Attorney Michelle Perkins

About Chris Hildebrand

I’m Chris Hildebrand. I’m an attorney and the founder of Hildebrand Law. I’ve been practicing for almost twenty years. I enjoy estate planning because it gives me the ability to work closely with my clients, come up with solutions, not only solutions in terms of protecting their assets and the debts while they’re alive, but also to provide for their heirs and make sure that they are comfortable knowing that the people they care most about are protected. It also gives me the opportunity to create real relationships with people, real friendships and I find that really fascinating and interesting.

Scottsdale Estate Planning

I really enjoy that part of the practice. I think a lot of people’s fear with regards to addressing estate planning issues or meeting with an estate planning attorney is you’re inherently talking about a subject that people are uncomfortable with, which is their potential death and their assets and how much they have and how many debts they have. Clients invariably leave after the estate planning process is complete and they’re very relieved because they now know that what is important to them is protected. I think they really leave feeling empowered because of the decisions they’ve made going forward. It really forces us to look at their family as a whole and come up with a life plan for them so that they can achieve the desires or the wants or the things that they want to do both short term, now, as well as long term when they retire.

If you have any questions about estate planning or want to know more about the estate planning process, feel free to email me and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

By: Chris Hildebrand

My name is Michelle Perkins and I am the managing partner of Owens & Perkins in Scottsdale, Arizona. Owens & Perkins is a general practice law firm providing legal representation for family law matters, criminal matters, estate planning, probate, trust administration, and trust litigation. The firm has been serving the valley of the sun since 1967 and that’s a pretty long time. I am partners with my grandfather, C.D. Owens. He is on my mothers’ side. People always ask if either of my parents are lawyers and the answer is no. For some reason, the lawyer gene skipped a generation. C.D. and I became partners in 1996 and as they say, the rest is history. One of the frequent compliments we get from clients of the firm is that they feel like they’re treated like family. We take pride in our work and we take our obligations to the community very seriously. When C.D. first started practicing in Scottsdale in 1967, he was one of a handful of lawyers. Now, we have thousands. C.D. represented people back in the day and they fell in love with him. From there, they had children and we represented them. Now, they have had children and we represent them too. We literally have generations representing generations. We know that legal battles can be frightening. We have been there for our clients since 1967 and we treat people fairly and honestly. If you want a law firm that you can count on, that treats you like part of the family, please call us at Owens & Perkins at (480) 994-8824.

By: Attorney Michelle Perkins

How to Avoid Probate in Scottsdale

I want to speak to you today regarding how you may avoid probate in the state of Arizona. Since probate is a legal proceeding, lawyers may be retained to represent heirs of the person appointed to manage the person’s estate. Avoiding probate therefore, will likely save the estate and parties the attorneys fees and other costs incurred in a probate case.

Estate Planning

A properly executed estate plan, including a properly executed trust, funded with all of your property and appointing an executor to manage your estate will in most cases avoid the need for your heirs to be involved in a probate action in Arizona. Please feel free to contact the attorneys at Hildebrand Law, if you have any other questions on ways to avoid a probate in Arizona.

By: Chris Hildebrand